This invention relates to a hog carcass splitter.
Hog carcass butchering techniques used for many years involve, after the steps of decapitation, removal of feet, full length slitting along the belly, and evisceration, the step of cutting the carcass through the backbone into two halves. From each separate half of so-called "hog-side", the rib cage and loins are pulled, any other cuts of meat taken, and the skin removed from the bacon and fat on a skinning machine. The two pieces of skin can be used for fabrication of footwear or other articles. It is very preferable to have one large piece of skin from the hog carcass rather than two smaller ones. Hence, in recent years the butchering technique has been modified such that, instead of splitting the carcass into halves, a highly skilled workman carefully cuts the backbone in two from the inside, using a special powered hand saw, without cutting through the skin over the exterior of the backbone. The removal of the rib cage and loins then includes removal of the two parts of the severed backbone therewith, with the bacon and fat back being subsequently separated from the "double side" skin on a drum-type double-side skinner as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,310,085, or a plate-type double-side skinner as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,325. A fabricator of articles from the tanned skins, such as the assignee herein, much prefers these double side skins to optimize product quality and maximize area of skin usage. However, the hog processors are reluctant to take the added time and care, and pay the considerable expense to have skilled personnel perform the special processing. In fact, such personnel is often of the highest skill in the plant, and therefore among the highest on the pay scale. Even such a highly skilled person requires considerable time to perform his task, and at some risk. This can result in holding up the entire processing line. There has been needed a technological development enabling hog processors to obtain double sides without the time and expense of skilled manual processing for carcass splitting.